WE WANT TO PAY YOU FOR MICRO SCI-FI! This is an open call for diverse sci-fi writers that never expires.- POC- LGBTQIA- Indigenous- Neurodiverse- Disabled- Chronically ill- All marginalised voicesWe're open from Day 10-24 every month.

WE WANT TO PAY YOU FOR MICRO SCI-FI! This is an open call for diverse sci-fi writers that never expires. - POC - LGBTQIA - Indigenous - Neurodiverse - Disabled - Chronically ill - All marginalised voices We're open from Day 10-24 every month. https://storyseedvault.com/submissions/

[144] We found the secrets to unravelling the universe, and bound them in poison-laden books. Those who hungered for such power unravelled themselves, their dying minds an inaccessible, sparking archive.

//Shadows from the Walls of Death (1874) contains close to a hundred wall paper samples. Be careful when opening – if you touch it with bare skin, the book might just kill you. This book is not some cursed artefact – it is the work of Dr. Robert M. Kedzie.//

[142] Alone, I have sailed, sought and found / I am tired / Careening further still into the void, my dream of sleep is dashed / As thrusters wake.

//In this story, Nathaniel Darbonne re-imagines the awakening of Voyager 1, humanising it for his reader. If you feel your heartstrings pulled, this is not the first time a spaceship has been anthropomorphised – several spacecrafts have now ‘live-tweeted’ their own deaths (with the help of a human media department).//

Are you aware of @storyseedvault's Patreon? I've just given our Patron's exclusive early access to a new blog post! This month, I'm asking if creating dystopias based on possible disaster is worth it. Could it make the reader feel like change is hopeless? https://www.patreon.com/posts/22481200

[138] A quick enema and Ed was a new man. Only his wife knew that he was just a steak-and-fries away from a return to prison.

//Fascinated by research that suggested that your gut’s hitchhikers can affect your personality and behaviour, Sharang Biswas gives this research a Clockwork Orange-esque twist in today’s Story Seed. This rather fluid formula for criminal reform is full of possibilities. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/07/22/138//

WE WANT TO PAY YOU FOR MICRO SCI-FI! This is an open call for diverse sci-fi writers that never expires.- POC- LGBTQIA- Indigenous- Neurodiverse- Disabled- Chronically ill- All marginalised voicesWe're open from Day 10-24 every month.

[137] Appearances aren’t everything. She caused the seas to tremble, yet was overcome by the eight tiny warriors she nurtured within.

//Last April, Palaeontologists discovered part of the skeleton of a 180 million-year-old pregnant ichthyosaur with the remains of 6-8 tiny embryos between its ribs. Brogan Micallef weaves the science into this fantastical fiction. Imagine if Odysseus had access to ichyosaurs…. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/07/20/137//

[136] The quantum robin flits to a bare branch, restless. Twin sparks in his eyes whisper go south with every beat of his thimble heart.

//Inspired by the discovery that birds use quantum coherence of a protein in their eyes to sense magnetic fields, Hal Y. Zhang crafts a fantastical journey into quantum space. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/07/17/136//

[135] The children flew through the forest and, together, they fell. Those who survived the beasts below might someday be giants, standing taller than their present skies.

//This story was inspired by the mast-fruiting phenomenon of dipterocarp trees in South East Asian rain forests. By releasing all their fruits in synchrony, dipterocarp populations provide so much food to their predators that not all of their seeds can be eaten. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/07/12/135//

[130] We play litter-hopscotch. Wu falls, writhes in plastic nets, splashes into the sea. But my ballerina balance shoes tiptoe across the football field-sized patch of debris. I jump over a bucket. I win.

//Babies love to play with cardboard boxes and litter. So do kids of the future. As the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” grows from its current size of three Frances , one can imagine smaller patches serving as kids’ play zones. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/06/12/130//

[131] She wasn’t perfect at mimicking normal human interaction. But neither was I. And she was built to learn.“Sound sad,” I told her. “Call and tell them goodbye.”“Okay,” she answered. Her voice was kind.

//In a recent demo, Google Assistant booked an appointment over the phone. This release has prompted questions about the Turing test, and a possible AI doomsday. Might it be possible to use this technology as an access aid? https://storyseedvault.com/2018/06/21/131///

[132] "Hey buddy, you okay?” he sat down beside her.“I’m fine.”“It’s dark in here,” he noticed.“Yeah.”“Alexa, talk to me.”On the coffee table, her black cylinder lit up as she sighed. “That’s not fair.”

//In March 2018, New York University hosted the symposium Canonical Computations in Brains and Machines. There neuroscientists and AI experts discussed overlaps in the way humans and machines think. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/07/04/132//

WE WANT TO PAY YOU FOR MICRO SCI-FI! This is an open call for diverse sci-fi writers that never expires.- POC- LGBTQIA- Indigenous- Neurodiverse- Disabled- Chronically ill- All marginalised voicesWe're open from Day 10-24 every month.

[134] "Oh heavens, no,” he said, “Robot bees are a horrible idea. Never. Never go with robot bees. Do you humans have ANY cautionary tales?”

//Researchers in Alabama are working with a team in Japan to develop “Marsbees.” Marsbees are an entirely new type of explorer: a swarm of robotic bees controlled by AI. Inspired by this project, Brian McNett crafts the first piece of a cautionary tale. https://storyseedvault.com/2018/07/09/134//

Micro sci-fi inspired by scientific research and #scicomm. We aim to entertain and educate. Open to subs between 10-24 every month. Edited by Alex Massey.

Joined Dec 2017

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The Wandering Shop is a Mastodon instance initially geared for the science fiction and fantasy community but open to anyone. We want our 'local' timeline to have the feel of a coffee shop at a good convention: tables full of friendly conversation on a wide variety of topics. We welcome everyone who wants to participate, so long as you're willing to abide by our code of conduct.

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